Baltimore's architecture, cupcakes, lure film crew

All the Peabody Conservatory library had to do was look its elegant self yesterday while a film crew set up lights, cameras and microphones to shoot a romantic comedy starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

The landmark on tree-lined Mount Vernon Street was the centerpiece for two scenes with Ms. Ryan, who plays a reporter at The Sun destined to meet Mr. Hanks, an architect in Seattle, at the end of the movie.

The crew will be filming "Sleepless in Seattle" in Baltimore through Thursday. Mr. Hanks is not in town.

From the Peabody, the crew went to the Woman's Industrial Exchange restaurant at Charles and Pleasant streets where director Nora Ephron had fallen in love with the orange cupcakes during a scouting trip she made to Baltimore earlier.

The setting at the 110-year-old Tea Room and gift shop sold Ms. Ephron on Baltimore as a location for some scenes in the film, set to be released by TriStar Pictures next spring.

"It was out of time," she said of the Woman's Industrial Exchange. She's trying to give the movie a timeless feel, and Baltimore has a "traditional" look, she said. The city seems to care about its history, she said.

The cupcakes have become a topic of conversation among crew members.

"They're fluffy. You can eat three or four of them and not feel bad about yourself," Ms. Ephron said.

The crew also filmed a scene in front of The Sun building on Calvert Street and plans to shoot this week at Faidley's Seafood at Lexington Market, the Hollywood Diner and near Francie's restaurant in Fell's Point, where Ms. Ryan's character, Annie Reed, lives.